This invention relates to cylindrical (commonly known as "round") balers for forming cylindical bales and more particularly relates to a method for freeing an expandable bale forming chamber of such a baler of a slug of crop material fed into the crop inlet of the chamber.
One commonly available prior art cylindrical baler is comprised of a frame having a pair of oposed sidewalls, a plurality of rollers extending between the sidewalls, and a plurality of flexible, endless belts supported on the rolls. The belts in conjunction with the rolls define the sides of a bale forming chamber and the frame sidewalls define the endwalls of the bale forming chamber. The belts are driven and apply a compactive rolling force to the crop material fed into the bale forming chamber through a crop inlet into engagement with a pinch point formed between the bale and a lower extremity of the bale forming chamber. A large cylindrical bale is formed by the belts by wrapping a continuous mat of the infed crop material in spiral fashion about a longitudinal, horizontal axis transverse to the direction of travel of the baler through the field. Balers of this type are exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,101, and 4,252,057.
Such balers are subject to plugging by the binding of the belts forming the bale forming chamber by the feeding of excessively large slugs of crop material into the crop inlet of the chamber. Such plugging most commonly occurs when operating the baler at near the maximum baling rate. The plugging is usually a result of binding of the belts causing a clutch in drive mechanism to slip. There are at least two known methods for freeing the bale forming chamber of such a baler plugged in this manner. In the first method, the drive means for the belts is shut off and a wrench is used to rotate manually one of the belt supporting rolls (typically a drive roll) in reverse. By rotating a roll in reverse, the belts and the bale are rotated in reverse to free the slug of crop material binding the bale forming chamber. Then, the slug of crop material can be removed by hand. This procedure is undesirable because of the manual labor involved and particularly because it requires a high degree of strength to rotate the bale forming chamber in reverse. A variant of the first method is to provide on the baler a mechanical drive for rotating the bale forming chamber in reverse. This variant is also disadvantageous because of the complexity and cost added to the baler by the provision of a means for driving the bale forming chamber in reverse.
In accordance with the second method for freeing a bale forming chamber plugged in this manner, the partially formed bale in the chamber is discharged on the ground and the slug of crop material is removed by hand from the crop inlet. This method is disadvantageous because a partially formed, untied bale must be discharged on the ground. The partially formed bale must then either be manually tied for transport, rebaled, or left in the untied condition. This method is also undesirable because of the inconvenience of lost time and manual labor involved in its practice.